Chronic. With the declaration of candidacy of Emmanuel Macron, by a letter to the French embellished with a video posted on social networks, the campaign can finally start. And yet it seems to be over before it has even begun. Already largely overshadowed by the health crisis, it is now overwhelmed by the war in Ukraine and its repercussions in Europe. The arrival of Emmanuel Macron on the electoral scene seems to change nothing.
While the news is punctuated by news from the East and exchanges between Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky or Vladimir Poutine, the other candidates are relegated to the background, in great difficulty to develop their projects. This context, for which he is not responsible, serves the incumbent naturally – he enjoys his stature as “protective president”, guarantor of stability – but also ontologically, as the tenant of the Elysée Palace has demonstrated for five years a capacity to slip into the flow of events, to play with them, to profit from them in fine.
Here, as before, he uses all the registers at the same time to consolidate his first place in the polls. After a solemn declaration of “warlord” on Wednesday, devoted to Ukraine, and a candid candidacy (letter to the French), he took the time to “play the actor” and record the first part of a webseries featuring ” the candidate “, aimed at social networks. Climbing a staircase with long determined strides, flanked by his dog Nemo, the president-candidate settles in the corner lounge of the Elysée, before evoking – gaze lost in the distance and musical interludes – his motivations for a second term. The exercise has aroused the annoyance of a handful of elected representatives of the majority, who are wondering – in private – regarding the relevance – the futility? – of such a process, while the hour is to gravity.
From solemnity to “entertainment”
But the Head of State, experienced in changing roles, masks and costumes, has always enjoyed mixing registers, moving simultaneously from that of solemnity to that ofentertainment (entertainment), fueling with going a “netflixification” of political life. Same opposite on the merits: following having pleaded for the ” of construction “ of our history, and assured in 2017 that there was no French culture, here he is – in his letter – as a champion of French identity and rootedness.
Once once more, Mr. Macron shows that he is an incarnation of the man “liquid” – according to the formula of the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, author of Present liquid (Seuil, 2007), for whom the quest for meaning and stable benchmarks has given way to an obsession with change and flexibility. “The traditional politician is required to be part of continuity, loyalty to commitments – failing that, he must be accountable -, while the neoliberal politician, of whom Macron is one of the faces, don’t hesitate to contradict themselves, play successive roles according to their interests, the audience and the moment”, analysis Christian Salmon, author of The Tyranny of the Jesters (LLL, 2020). The essayist observes that this process “works despite all the contradictions”, because he “represents the era”, in affinity with social networks and news channels.
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